The Golden Spider

Steampunk, a mystery, and a romance all rolled together to form a fun and engaging story. That’s what “The Golden Spider” is. Lady Amanda Ravensdale is passionate about one thing, the golden spider that she is designing, which when complete will be able to repair the damage to her brother’s legs and allow him to walk again unaided.

As part of her pursuit she has enrolled at Lister University School of Medicine, which the Queen has deemed to be a co-educational school. She hopes at some point to meet Professor Thornton who works in the field she is interested in. Perhaps he will even help her to develop her spider. When she walks into anatomy class one day and finds that the usual professor has been replaced by Thornton she is intrigued by more than just his knowledge of medicine.

In addition to teaching anatomy, Thornton has become embroiled in the search for a man who is killing gypsies by performing heinous experimental procedures on them. When he realizes that The Surgeon is using a device similar to Amanda’s he draws her into the case also. Pressure is on to track down the murderer before he perfects the device. Thornton and Amanda also soon find themselves drawn to each other by much more powerful forces than the mystery at hand.

As a reviewer, I am still relatively new to the steampunk genre, but after reading this book I am rapidly becoming a fan. I had so much fun reading this story. The characters that Anne Renwick has created are delightful. Lady Amanda is stubborn and determined and initially an annoyance to Thornton. He, on the other hand, is strong and passionate and while trying to ignore her can’t help but find her charming and alluring.

The interplay between these two is compelling and riveting. There are also lots of fun gadgets and mechanical devices in this story. Bottom line, I loved the steampunk world that Anne Renwick created and the people in it. The storyline is complex, as a mystery should be, and I found it very hard to tear myself away. I can’t wait for the next one in this series to come out.

Alinefromabook’s rating: TWO THUMBS-UP!!

Guest review contributed by A Line From a Book. These reviews tend to be short and to the point, crossing a wide variety of genres. She loves to discover new authors and hidden gems.